The present invention pertains to a portable volleyball net assembly and, more particularly, to such an assembly in which the net and the opposite supporting legs are deployable from a pair of identical tubular housings in which the entire assembly may be stored and transported when not in use.
Nets and supporting apparatus for volleyball and similar types of games which are deployable from some type of storage container are well known in the art. In particular, many devices of this type have been devised for the storage of tennis nets, some comprising permanently affixed storage units and others portable storage units. Examples of the former are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,526,126 and 4,595,155 and U.K. Pat. No. 23993. Examples of the latter are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 906,848; 1,300,972; and 4,088,317.
In previously identified U.S. Pat. No. 4,595,155 and U.K. Pat. No. 23993, one of two permanently installed net supporting posts comprises a manually operable reel mechanism into which the tennis net may be rolled after the opposite end is disconnected from the other supporting post. In previously identified U.S. Pat. No. 1,526,126, the net reeling apparatus in one of the supporting posts comprises a spring biased roller which retracts and rolls up the net in the manner similar to a window shade.
In U.S. Pat. No. 906,848, a tennis net is manually wound onto a shaft in a semicylindrical post member and enclosed for storage therein by a similar semicylindrical post member, each of which semicylindrical post members includes a demountable stake which may be driven into the ground and to which the post members are attachable after unreeling the net. In U.S. Pat. No. 1,300,972, a tubular net carrying housing is attachable to a permanent net supporting post or the like and the net may be drawn from the housing against the bias of a rewind spring with the free end of the net attached to an opposite permanent supporting post or the like. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,088,317 two similar portable tubular housings are utilized, one of which includes a reel mechanism for storing the net and providing one net supporting post and the other provides the other net supporting post.
Screw type anchors which may be threadably driven into the ground and to which tennis net supporting end posts may be attached are shown in U.K. Pat. Nos. 19270 and 525,395. In both of the foregoing patents, the anchor screws are separately driven into the ground and the end posts are then mounted thereon.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,720,112 and 4,830,382 both disclose systems for supporting a volleyball net including telescoping net supporting standards or end posts. The system disclosed in the latter patent is intended to be portable and, although the telescoping supporting standards facilitate portability, no provision is made for rolling and storing the net.
The prior art described above discloses portable game net assemblies in which certain components of the assembly may be stored in and deployed from an enclosing housing which housing may also be utilized as one or both of the net-supporting end posts. In none of the identified prior art patents, however, is there a disclosure of a completely self-contained portable volleyball net assembly in which telescoping end posts with anchoring spikes are fully storable, along with the attached net, within a pair of tubular housing members and from which housing members the net and telescoping post assemblies are directly deployable. It would be desirable, therefore, to have such a portable net assembly wherein the collapsible telescoping post assembly including an anchoring spike and all or a portion of the net could be completely stored within an enclosing housing and from which housing the post and net may be readily extended for use with the housing or housings remaining attached as an integral part of the net assembly. Such an assembly should desirably be lightweight to enhance portability, yet strong enough when fully deployed to support and retain the net in a sufficiently taut condition.